It's thought the recovery vehicle may have removed Yulia Skripal's car, after she and her father Sergei Skripal were poisoned in the Wiltshire city of Salisbury, roughly 30 miles away, in an attempted murder which has made international headlines.

The Skripals continue to fight for their lives in hospital in Salisbury.

Mayor Ridout said: “We’ll give the police all the assistance they need.

"Obviously people will wonder what’s going on and it’s a bit close to home but everything has to be followed up with something like this.

"We want everyone to be safe and that’s what we’d expect from the police.”

Military personnel in protective suits have been removing a vehicle from the Dorset town of Gillingham on March 14, 2018, in connection with the Salisbury spy poisoning. The town's mayor spoke to Somerset Live (Image: PA/Western Gazette archive)

Meanwhile north Dorset MP, Simon Hoare, said he's spoken to Theresa May in Parliament about the risk to locals in Gillingham and expected more news later today.

Our reporter was told by a detective at the scene on March 14 that Public Health England did not believe there to be any risk to the local public.

Mike Tolman, 73, is a resident of New Close in Gillingham, not far from the recovery van which the authorities are thought to be interested in.

He told our reporter James Somper locals simply had to let the police and army do their jobs.

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But he did have concerns about a van - potentially contaminated with a military grade Russian nerve agent - standing in a nearby street for four days.

He added: "It makes you wonder. I would've thought the chances of anything being found are very remote. Well I would hope so!"

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Prime Minister Theresa May told the House of Commons she would take a range of steps to hit back at Russia, after the United Kingdom received no response to a request for an explanation about the Salisbury attack.